Abstract

The objective of this article is to study cloth and appearance in the Bronze Age based on the evidence from a previously overlooked oak-log coffin find, the Nybøl burial. The textiles have been investigated and our results compared with cloth from four well-known oak-log coffins: Muldbjerg, Trindhøj, and Borum Eshøj graves A and B. Our analysis demonstrates that this burial contained the coarsest cloth on record to date from the Scandinavian Bronze Age, and that it included some cloth items that are not previously known from the above-mentioned graves. The items of clothing the different textiles may have derived from are discussed, as well as the appearance of the deceased in relation to Bronze Age society. We conclude that this burial contained a previously unknown costume type, but that it is a variation of the others rather than an entirely new category.

Breuning-Madsen, H., Holst, M.K.1998. Recent Studies on the Formation of Iron Pans around the Oaken Log Coffins of the Bronze Age Burial Mounds of Denmark. Journal of Archaeological Science, 25: 1103–10.